“Is something wrong with her?”
“Why don’t we find out?” he asked with that cruel smile of his.
“Oh no…I don’t think…”
But he was already walking to the door and pressing a button. “B.”
The woman’s head snapped forward. Her dark eyes were otherworldly. They didn’t scream fear me like Harrington’s did. They screamed unpredictable and insane.
B took three calm steps to put herself in front of the window. She bared her teeth, revealing the sharp fangs. Then she spoke back. “The sky is green today.”
“You can’t see the sky, B,” Harrington told her.
“The work will burn with you in it. Roses are red and violets are bleeding. Death and destruction taste like your whispers.”
Reyna’s eyebrows rose dramatically. What the hell had Harrington done to this woman?
“I brought you a friend,” Harrington told her.
“A tasty morsel. A pet pet pet. Sometimes the doorknob sings show tunes. Tell it to stop.” Then her eyes glazed over and she covered her ears. “Stop! Tell it to stop!”
“Oh my God,” Reyna whispered.
“God, has nothing to do with it.” Then Harrington pushed the door open, dragging Reyna behind him into the room. She froze in terror. Harrington wouldn’t let her get hurt, right? He needed her. He needed her blood. She was valuable.
But then he shoved her forward so she came nearly face-to-face with B. Fear bit into her stomach, making her queasy. Holy shit, he couldn’t do this. He wasn’t this crazy, was he?
B sniffed the air all around Reyna, assessing her. Then she slowly circled Reyna like an animal. Prowled her food as if she were a lion on the savannah about to take down her prey. Reyna stood very still. She didn’t even breathe. Her lungs constricted as worry creased between her eyebrows and sweat beaded on her brow.
“You smell familiar,” B said. “Have we met before?”
“No,” Reyna whispered on an exhale. She couldn’t believe she’d even gotten the word out. She was face-to-face with an insane vampire. If she thought she had fears before…they were nothing compared to being circled by this erratic, unpredictable predator.
“Oh yes, we’ve met. Underground and up on high. Beneath and within and deep under your skin.” B got real close and ran her nose up Reyna’s arm. She shivered in fear. “You smell wrong.”
Reyna swallowed hard. She had never been told that. Usually vampires told her she smelled amazing like the nectar of the gods. She didn’t want to smell wrong to this creature. She wanted to get as far away as possible. She didn’t need to be bitten to have flight or fight kick in.
“Toy?” B asked Harrington.
Reyna’s eyes rounded as she turned to face Harrington. He smirked at her as if to say This is what your life could be. Reyna shuddered. Dear God, no. She didn’t mask the fear. She let it seep out of her in waves. She couldn’t live this life. This couldn’t be her. Oh God, there was worse. There was much worse than the life she had been leading.
“Would you like her as a toy?” Harrington asked.
B reached out and encircled both of Reyna’s arms. She tore the medical tape and gauze off of Reyna’s arm. Reyna cried out as her wounds were opened once more. Fuck, she didn’t want to bleed in front of his monster. Her blood made other vampires go crazy. What would it do to the already insane? She knew she didn’t want to find out.
B inspected the wound clinically. “She’s broken. You brought me a broken toy.”
“B,” Harrington said.
“She’s broken in here too,” B said, thrusting her hand at Reyna’s heart. It landed with a soft thump. Reyna grunted and tried to shy away from the creature. “Shattered and empty. Worms and maggots. Festering blistering aching.” She tilted her head and then giggled. “Destroyed.”
Reyna was repulsed by the words, repulsed by B. She just wanted to be as far away from B as possible. Harrington was teaching her a lesson she didn’t want to learn.
Then suddenly, as Reyna was moving toward the door, she was shoved hard and she collided with the glass. Her head smacked against it roughly. She gasped as tears welled into her eyes and she slumped into a heap on the floor. Her head pulsed with pain. She couldn’t believe what had happened. B had thrown her bodily across the room.
Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. She was out of her mind. B was going to kill her. The manic look in her eye revealed how gone she really was. Harrington was holding her back, but Reyna didn’t want to wait to find out. Her head was the size of the room as fear propelled her to try to escape. To run away from this nightmare.
“I’ll kill her! I’ll kill her!” B screamed, trying to claw her way past Harrington. “She can’t have it! Doesn’t belong to her! I’ll take it all back.”